Mike Lombardi's criticism of Browns players follows him to Cleveland

View full sizeMike Lombardi, the Cleveland Browns' new vice president of player personnel, says receiver Josh Gordon should not be concerned about his status with the team. Lombardi last year called Gordon's selection in the supplemental draft a "waste'' of a pick.Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer

BEREA, Ohio -- If Michael Lombardi wondered whether anyone in the Browns' organization had paid attention to his work at the NFL Network the past five years he got his answer quickly Friday morning.

Moments after news broke that Lombardi had been hired as the team's vice president of player personnel, rookie receiver Josh Gordon tweeted: "Uh oh. Am I in trouble??"

Gordon, once labeled a "waste" of a supplemental draft choice by Lombardi, was only one of the analysts' targets in recent years.

Even before the 53-year-old former league network commentator took a seat on stage Friday for his introductory news conference, local radio stations were playing sound bites of critical comments Lombardi had made about the organization, its draft choices and quarterback Brandon Weeden.

It made for an unusual question-and-answer session because the media had ready-made material from its subject on key organizational topics.

The candor that helped Lombardi enjoy a five-year run with the NFL Network might have to be tempered in his new role and perhaps explained to some players in the Browns locker room.

"I think you do different things in the media," said Lombardi, who also appeared on a weekly radio spot for the Cleveland sports station 92.3 FM, The FAN, this season. "Certainly, you need to get involved in terms of their personalities here. I don't know Josh Gordon or Brandon Weeden, in terms of watching them play from the outside, so it's a different evaluation from a media perspective from inside the house. It's going to be different that way.

"I think when you do media you certainly have commentary of games, but I think for my part it's a different set of circumstances. I'm looking more towards as an organization building a team and how it relates to that."

A news conference that included 40 questions Friday featured five about Lombardi's past critiques of the team, particularly Weeden, who struggled through an uneven rookie season.

He had called the drafting of the 29-year-old quarterback with the No. 22 overall pick a year ago, a "panicked disaster," even as he admitted Friday of having no memory of making that statement. Lombardi has said the Browns would have been better served conducting a competition instead of anointing Weeden the starter.

On Friday, Lombardi said he must watch practice film of Weeden before drawing his final conclusions.

"I think it's going to take some time to study him," he said.

Lombardi laughed about the Tweet from Gordon, who had a solid rookie season, ranking eight among NFL receivers with an average of 16.1 yards per catch.

"That's a really good tweet right there," Lombardi said smiling. "I'll take that one. Josh Gordon, trust me, he has nothing to worry about. In fact, he can have my twitter account if he'd like because I'm about to close that thing down."

Lombardi's transition from analyst's armchair to a position he once occupied in the sport is hardly unprecedented. Indians manager Terry Francona spent a season working for ESPN after getting fired by the Boston Red Sox. Former Cavaliers coach Mike Fratello has toggled between the broadcast booth and bench on several occasions.

Fratello, who works for TNT and the YES Network, said he heard no grief from players after accepting the Memphis Grizzlies' job for three seasons starting in 2004 following a long stint at NBC.

"I was able to get my points across without killing guys on the air," Fratello said. "I think as long as you're fair and you have facts to back up your arguments players will understand it.

"As a coach, I used to always tell my players they have to learn to understand to accept criticism when it's warranted. When you're shooting 25 percent from the field, it's fair to say you're not playing well. As long as someone is not taking unfair shots, players have to understand it comes with the territory."

Fratello knows Lombardi from their days together in Cleveland (1993-95). He believes the Browns executive won't be afraid to address players he's criticized on air.

Haslam and Browns CEO Joe Banner are not worried that Lombardi's pointed remarks will create problems within the locker room.

"We were aware of it," Banner said. "The main thing I'm evaluating though is, how good an evaluator do I think he is? I think Jimmy was making a similar assessment. . . . You say something in that forum it's different and he'll have to deal with that. We weren't not going to hire who we thought was the best person because of that."

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